This invention relates generally to athletic equipment and more particularly concerns golf swing practice equipment.
There are many golf swing trainers in the marketplace which claim tremendous results through correct use on a consistent basis. While most of them have some merit and offer some benefits, they all can be generally categorized by one or more counterproductive deficiencies.
One category includes trainers that are unweighted in comparison to actual golf clubs. Since these trainers are not weighted, they neither communicate to the muscles of the golfer in such a way as to break down muscle tension and old muscle habits, nor develop the proper muscle memory needed to produce a correct golf swing. Furthermore, while some of these unweighted devices feel good to swing, they generally cause the golfer to swing the club over the top of the ball.
Another category includes trainers which are improperly weighted, such as by use of oversized or weighted clubheads, increased weights where the clubhead would otherwise be located and weight mechanisms that are hinged to the clubhead end of the shaft. These devices use a variety of straight or bent shafts. While these weighted devices will change muscle memory, since they are improperly weighted they conform it to an improper golf swing. They generally cause the club to be swung on an incorrect path, encourage the golfer to release the club too early and come over the top of the ball or cause the swing to be excessively wristy which also takes the club shaft off the correct path.
A third category does not involve a golf club substitute at all, but employs swing guidance mechanisms such as hoops, tracks, belts and the like designed to force the golfer to swing an actual golf club or trainer on a proper swing path. Such devices are generally quite complicated and require much time in setting up for the unique physical characteristics of each individual golf student. Since they do not involve weighted mechanisms, they do not break down old incorrect muscle memory or build new correct muscle memory. Furthermore, these swing guidance mechanisms are generally based on the false premise that a golf swing takes place in a single plane. The golf swing is a bi-planar three-dimensional motion which known guidance mechanisms do not replicate.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a swing trainer that is weighted so as to break down muscle tension and old muscle habits. It is a further object of this invention to provide a golf swing trainer which is properly weighted to develop the muscle memory appropriate to produce the correct golf swing. Another object of this invention is to provide a golf swing trainer that requires no set up for a training session. A further object of this invention is to provide a golf swing trainer that readily fits in a golf bag with the golfer's other equipment. Yet another object of this invention is to provide a golf swing trainer that has no moving parts and requires no assembly. And it is an object of this invention to provide a golf swing trainer that can be used anywhere, indoors or outdoors, as a trainer and also as a warm-up tool.